Reeves slips into yoga voice to try to soothe fears over costs of Trump’s war | John Crace

You have to feel a bit sorry for the chancellor. Roughly four weeks ago, Rachel Reeves had come to the Commons to deliver her spring statement. A moderately upbeat picture of the nation’s finances that didn’t necessarily coincide with people’s lived experience. Still, it more or less did the trick. Bought her another six months until the autumn budget

Labour lost white working-class voters to Greens in Gorton and Denton, party analysis finds

Labour lost significant numbers of white working-class voters to the Greens in Gorton and Denton, the party’s postmortem has concluded, after it came third in the Greater Manchester byelection last month.The Greens won the byelection, with Reform in second place.Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, told activists and members it was a warning the party could lose voters on its left flank who went far beyond the stereotype of progressive young professionals and those from Muslim communities.High numbers of voters broke for the Greens in the final hours before polling closed, the party’s analysis has found, with some conflicted until they reached the ballot box about which party was better placed to stop Reform.Powell was expected to present the findings to Labour’s national executive committee on Tuesday but told activists and members in a call over the weekend that people had repeatedly said they needed a “reason” to vote Labour

Reform UK suspends mayoral candidate over comments on Jewish group

Reform UK has suspended one of its key mayoral candidates after he described members of a Jewish neighbourhood watch group as “cosplayers” and likened them to “Islamists on horseback”.Chris Parry, who had remained the mayoral candidate for Hampshire despite a previous controversy in which he said David Lammy should “go home” to the Caribbean, made the latest comments on Monday about Shomrim, a volunteer group that safeguards communities including Orthodox Jewish families.The former rear admiral was condemned for comments made when he retweeted a post on X by Catherine Blaiklock, a co-founder of the Brexit party, hours after news emerged of an arson attack on ambulances run by a Jewish charity in London.“Can Christian’s [sic] in Britain set up their own police and patrol certain neighbourhoods?” said Blaiklock, who posted a picture of a number of Shomrim vehicles.Parry shared the post, adding: “Remember that these cosplayers have no more jurisdiction or legal authority than ordinary citizens

UK defence firms ‘bleeding cash’ as delayed spending plan leaves industry in ‘paralysis’

Defence manufacturers are going bust while others have been left in “paralysis” and “bleeding cash” as they wait for a long-delayed UK military spending plan for the next decade, MPs have heard.Industry groups said a more than six-month delay to the defence investment plan (DIP) had also left the UK behind Germany and the US in attracting cash from global investors.“The ecosystem is not in a great place, it’s what I would call paralysis,” said Samira Braund, the defence director of the ADS Group trade body, speaking to the defence select committee on Tuesday. “I don’t think that [the government] have put effective mitigation plans in place at all.”The DIP, originally expected last autumn, has been repeatedly postponed amid warnings that the military faces a £28bn funding gap over the next four years

Rachel Reeves rules out universal support on energy bills

Rachel Reeves has ruled out universal support to deal with any future rise in energy bills, saying any government help would be targeted, and criticised the support offered by Liz Truss’s government as unaffordable and irresponsible.The chancellor also said she would review the planned fuel duty rise in September, but did not commit to delaying or postponing it.She said contingency planning was taking place for an expected rise in energy bills but the focus was on longer-term measures to bring down bills for all, and targeted support for the poorest households.“The previous government pushed up borrowing, interest rates, inflation and mortgage costs with an unfunded, untargeted package of support under Liz Truss. That gave the support to the wealthiest of households,” Reeves said

Ed Davey accuses Reform UK and Tories of importing ‘Trump-style divisive politics’

Ed Davey has accused Reform UK and the Conservatives of importing “Trump-style divisive politics” as he launched the Liberal Democrats’ 7 May local elections campaign, promising the party would focus on “fixing things for your community”.He also raised concerns that energy bill support being considered by the UK government would not include people on middle incomes who he said were being “hammered” by price rises caused by the war on Iran.Davey’s party is hoping to build on its success last year when it beat the Conservatives into third place by winning more than 160 new seats, which were taken almost entirely at their expense.Lib Dem candidates are to focus on tested issues, including cleaning up local rivers polluted by sewage. The other two main planks of their platform for the 7 May election are on improving local health services and cutting energy bills